


Study Buddy

by Eveanyn



Category: Supernatural
Genre: College AU, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 04:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2494874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eveanyn/pseuds/Eveanyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel's day isn't going so hot, until the only seat available is next to a guy with poetically green eyes. Fluff ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Study Buddy

Castiel’s day was not starting well. The common area in the student union was full. The only seat open was at a booth where another guy was sitting. He walked up to it, shifting his backpack uneasily. He hated talking to people, especially if he felt he was imposing.

Refusing to let his anxiety get the better of him, he coughed lightly to get the guy’s attention and asked, “Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full.”

 

The guy glanced up from the book he was reading and suddenly Castiel was looking into the most beautiful green eyes he’d ever seen. He was composing poetry for them when the guy smiled and gestured to the empty side of the booth. “Be my guest.”

 

Castiel sat down and placed his backpack next to him on the bench, opening it up to take out his laptop. When he looked up again he caught the guy staring at him. Instead of blushing and looking away like Castiel would have done, the guy just put his hand forward. “I’m Dean, by the way,” he said, and that voice held a level of confidence Castiel didn’t think he could ever achieve.

 

Extending his own hand he murmured, “Castiel,” before awkwardly dropping his hand and booting up his laptop.

 

They sat in silence for a while, both concentrating on the work in front of them. Castiel tried not to steal glances at Dean too often, but it was a lost cause. Dean was sitting there, head cradled in his hand, lips silently forming the words on the page in front of him. After a while he gave a grunt of disgust and looked up. “Hey, man, do you know anything about Tom Stoppard?” He lifted up the book so Castiel could see that the spine read, _Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead_.

 

Castiel looked up from his computer, surprised. That was one of his favorite plays. He quoted softly, “We cross our bridges when we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.”

Dean’s eyes widened, and Castiel added _limpid pools_ to his list of adjectives describing them. “I take it that’s a yes, then?” Dean grinned.

 

Castiel nodded. “It’s one of my favorites. What can I help you with?”

 

Dean scooted over on his side of the booth, obviously making room for Castiel. “I’m having a little trouble with this whole ‘we’re characters in our own play’ thing. It’s confusing as fuck.”

 

Castiel moved so he was sitting next to Dean, hoping the sound of his now-pounding heart wasn’t loud enough to be overheard. He concentrated on the text, one he knew quite well, and slowly his heart rate went back to normal.

 

Dean wasn’t dumb by any stretch of the imagination. Once Castiel had given his own insight, Dean caught on very quickly, coming to conclusions that had taken Castiel two read-throughs of the play to come to on his own.

 

Castiel was pretty sure Dean had been flirting with him for a while, but he wasn’t sure. Was it normal for someone to brush the back of their hand against your own while turning a page? Did a hand clapped on his shoulder that lingered longer than normal constitute as flirting? He wasn’t sure, and it would take someone with more confidence than Castiel to push the issue and find out.

 

What he could do, though, was talk to Dean about everything he could think of to keep them sitting like this for as long as possible. He mentioned some of Stoppard’s other works, and other plays he’d read. Dean talked about his classes, and Castiel discovered the only reason Dean was taking the literature class was because he needed an elective and his younger brother, Sam, had waxed poetic about the course reading list.

 

Dean went on about Sam for a good twenty minutes, sounding almost like a proud parent rather than an older brother. Castiel talked about his large family and how it felt being one of five children.

 

Somewhere in between the stories of childhood pranks and Dean constantly peppering praise of his “Baby” into the conversation, they had moved from the booth over to the little coffee shop on the second floor. Drinks in hand, they sat down on a loveseat, and Castiel tried very hard not to make a big deal out of Dean’s knee touching his own.

 

His car was apparently the most important thing in Dean’s life, because he wouldn’t stop talking about it. ‘Her’. Whatever. Castiel didn’t understand the appeal of specific cars. If they ran properly and got you safely from point A to point B, what was the difference? Dean got fired up at that, talking animatedly and using his hands to emphasize his points, which sometimes seemed to require touching Castiel on the arm, or shoulder, or shoving his knee at a sarcastic comment.

 

More than once Castiel found himself just staring into Dean’s eyes, almost losing track of the conversation. He wondered if it was normal to develop a crush on someone less than ten minutes after meeting them. He wondered if that crush could turn into something more after an hour.

 

Eventually Dean looked at his watch and sighed. “I’ve got a class at 4:30. I should get going so I’m not late. It’s a twenty minute walk across campus; my class is in Kedzie.”

 

Castiel’s stomach dropped. He stared at the floor and nodded. “Yeah, sure.” He was pretty sure he was being let down easy. Damn it, he shouldn’t be this disappointed. He’d known Dean for less than four hours. His throat shouldn’t be constricting at the thought of not seeing him again.

 

“So, uh--” When Castiel looked up Dean was rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably. “This was fun, right? I mean, we should do it again sometime?”

 

Castiel’s heart gave a hard stutter in his chest and the sick feeling in his stomach turned into butterflies. He couldn’t help the hopeful grin spreading across his face. “I’d like that very much, Dean.”

 

They exchanged phone numbers and stood up. Dean still looked slightly nervous. “Um, I don’t want to be an ass, but I just want to be sure. When I said ‘hang out’ I kind of meant more like a date. If you’d be into that?”

 

Castiel probably shouldn’t have said ‘yes’ as quickly and enthusiastically as he did, but if Dean’s answering smile was anything to go by, it wasn’t an issue.

 

“Cool. So I guess I’ll call you and we’ll figure it out from there?” Dean reached out and touched his hand gently. It lingered, pressing hot into his palm. Dean squeezed once, and with a wink and a, “later, Cas,” he was walking away.

 

Castiel stood there for another minute, feeling the echo of the hand on his skin. He could almost still smell Dean’s cologne. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and opened up the text.

 

**I’ll drive so you can meet Baby. ;)**

 

Castiel’s day was certainly looking up.

 

****

 

That Friday Dean picked Castiel up in his 1967 Chevy Impala. After the constant texts he’d gotten about being prepared to meet the most amazing car he’d ever see, Castiel made sure to give the appropriate compliments to her beauty. His fondness for the car went up considerably when he was pressed against it later, Dean’s hands tight on his hips and his tongue exploring his mouth hungrily.

 

When he was laid out in the backseat, sinking into the leather with Dean’s hips grinding against his and his hands fisted in Dean’s hair he decided it was the best car ever.

 

Afterwards, when Dean lay spent against him, breathing heavily into his shoulder, he said as much. Dean chuckled and pressed a kiss into his neck. “Told you,” he whispered.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at a fluffy one-shot ficlet. I hope you liked it! Find me at my Tumblr, Eveanyn.


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